O say can you see On the ground underfoot All the lives that you've trampled, All the wishes destroyed? You have made us a people Torn out at the root By American dreams That we thought might bring joy. When I rise up I may See our rights stripped that day. When we cannot produce,…
What are we willing to do?
Yesterday was primary day here in Illinois, which somehow both resonated harder and felt more discordant given the devastating Supreme Court ruling this past Friday. Voting is one of our core rights and responsibilities in a democratic republic such as this. And I have heard many, many calls since the ruling that voting is not…
Change in living systems
We have all heard the news. The Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade and dissolved abortion rights across much of this country. This decision was foretold by an infamous leak about a month ago, but that doesn’t make it any less shocking. Abortion rights have seemed secure to many of us for almost 50…
Expanding futures
“I remind myself and others that there is still such a wide spectrum of possible futures, and we do get some choice in which ones we have. We’re not going to be able to take some sort of time machine backwards to a perfectly pristine planet, when there’s 8 billion or something people on the…
Heat
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned. Without heat, there is no life. Without heat, there is no us. Absolute zero is the temperature 0 Kelvin, -273° Celsius, -460° Fahrenheit. At that temperature, movement ceases.…
Fear vs. danger
You can also check out my piece “White fear” from June 1, 2020. On February 28, 1990, I was a 13-year-old 8th-grader living in suburban Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a shy, quiet kid – small for my age. I enjoyed school and usually earned good grades. I had close friends and was coming to terms with missing…
Electrification is a vital part of addressing climate change locally.
Climate change is at the top of many of our minds. The IPCC reports over the past few years have made clear the imperative that we reduce carbon emissions immediately. A key method for local communities to impact the climate crisis is to move away from gas infrastructure to electric. If we shift from gas…
Uvalde
Raging fire alight on frozen waters, Shaking earth is hidden underground. Can we protect our children, sons and daughters? We know that what was lost cannot be found. Clenching fist inside a velvet glove, Chaos breaks inside a stone facade. Can we change the outcome with our claims of previous love? Not when we pray…
Circles
We live within circles – the circles of racism, of white supremacy, of domination. And we may not always be clear where within these circles we reside. I condemn the racist actions of a man who walked into a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, and shot down 13 people because of his belief in replacement…
Stories of fear, stories of trust
Jimmy glanced over his room for any sign of danger. Seeing none, he flicked off the lights and dove into his bed. At that point, he was in a race against time to pull the covers over his head, tucking them quickly underneath all points of his body. Because he didn’t like the stuffy feeling…
